Skeletal Fears
by Storms-Are-My-Nature
Summary: Something's up with our favourite Welshman this Halloween - can Jack and the team find a way to help before it's too late? Janto, Gwys and Towen.
1. Chapter 1

Skeletal Fears

_**Skeletal Fears**_

_By Storms-Are-My-Nature_

**This was inspired by the fic-writing competition on ****. As I'm not a member, I can't enter, but the criteria sparked my imagination...**

**Set: after Day in the Death but before Exit Wounds and Fragments. So round about there – Owen's dead, basically. Kicked the bucket. Pushing up daisies (well, not literally...he's still walking around, isn't he?) and yadda yadda yadda. You get my gist. **

**Janto, Towen, Gwys...all the usual. Slight Gwen-bashing, but only if you look really hard...**

**Disclaimer: You caught me. I'm actually Russell T Davies in disguise, working undercover...**

**...please don't tell me you fell for that. **

"Halloween, ey?" Owen Harper said as he flopped onto the couch in the Hub.

"What about it?" Toshiko Sato asked, looking over from her workstation. "Going trick or treating?"

The medic snorted. "There's no way you'd catch me going trick or treating!" he claimed. "It's for kids."

Toshiko looked slightly crestfallen. "Oh," was all she could say.

She had planned on asking Owen to go with her, have some fun. But if he thought it was for kids...

"You're right – we're a bit too old for that kind of thing," she lied, hoping it was convincing enough.

"Huh." Owen shot her a disbelieving glance and stood up again, heading into the autopsy bay. Toshiko thought it was bad for him to spend so much time down in that cold, pristine atmosphere, but she wouldn't mention it. It wasn't her business.

"Coffee?" a quiet voice behind her asked. She turned and smiled at Ianto, receiving the cup gratefully.

"Thankyou, Ianto," she said. She always made a point of thanking him for the things he did – it was all too easy to take him for granted.

"Owen in a mood?" Ianto asked suddenly.

Tosh was surprised at his perceptiveness. "Er – yes. You could say so."

"Shame he can't have coffee," Ianto said. "I bet that's what the sulking's about."

"It was about Halloween, actually," Tosh said shyly.

Ianto raised an eyebrow. "Perfect for it, isn't he?" he commented ironically.

"I guess."

He hefted the tray and smiled at her. "Anyway. Got to get coffee to the other two before they get caffeine withdrawal."

"Okay."

Tosh watched him go, before turning back to her computers. Jack wanted the translation programme for Friday, which only gave her two days. Not much to get the whole thing done, but what Jack said went.

Ianto vanished into the vaults after serving out the coffee – it was feeding time for the Weevils.

"My favourite time of the day," he muttered sarcastically to himself as he made his way down into the bowels of the underground Hub, plastic bag of raw meat in hand.

The Weevils were unusually quiet as he entered the vaults. Normally they were throwing themselves at the divide come feeding time, ravenous and growling.

But today was different. There were no boiler-suit-clad aliens hurling themselves at the divides, no furious yells and snarls. All was quiet.

Immediately Ianto was on his guard. He put his hand to his ear, ready to turn on the comms at the slightest thing. He glanced at the CCTV camera in the corner, reassured that he wasn't completely alone.

He wasn't sure why he was so nervous, but something about this set his teeth on edge. The hairs on the back of his neck were standing on end, and his hands felt cold and clammy.

Ianto walked down the central aisle, checking all the cells as he went.

They were all the same; curled up on their sides into tiny little balls and completely silent. Not a whiffle escaped them.

Ianto licked his lips and started down the next aisle. He had nearly reached the end when he heard a clattering behind him and he swung around, automatically reaching for the gun that wasn't there.

A skeleton was standing at the end of the aisle. The poor lighting made it hard to tell, but Ianto was sure that it was a Weevil skeleton. And, more importantly, it was coming toward him, slow and menacing.

Ianto reached his hand to the comms as the lights went out and the comms went dead. His heart started thumping in his chest, as if aware that it was about to be ripped out.

Ianto backed up against the cold wall, staring at the approaching bones in abject terror. He closed his eyes...

**Couldn't resist leaving you on a cliff-hanger. Please tell me in your review (please leave one!! –sad puppy eyes-) whether you want me to update this fic next or my other fic, 'Splash'. Let me know! **


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

**Very late, I know, but "better late than never!", as they say!**

**This is dedicated to ****AdoreThem****, for a lovely review and getting my creative juices going once more with this fic. **

**AN: This is going to go very differently than I think some of you were expecting... and I'm going to be mean to Ianto again... maybe. At the moment I'm just hoping that this won't turn into a long story, like Splash and Sudden Parenthood are planned to be. :S**

**Disclaimer: Weeeelll... no. I don't own Torchwood. **

Yet the expected grasp of finger-bones around his neck never came. Ianto's brain screamed not to open his eyes, but when Ianto did, he found the skeleton gone.

He frowned in confusion, his heart still hammering behind his rib-cage. Cautiously, he took a step forward, away from the wall, and checked all the cells. The weevils were starting to stir, opening sleepy eyes and yawning in an oddly fixating manner.

Ianto left the bag of bloody meat lying on the concrete, hurrying up through the Hub to Jack's office.

Jack was sitting behind his desk, arguing with Gwen. Gwen had a stubborn expression on her face, and Jack looked impatient.

Both of them looked up when Ianto came in, without knocking for the first time in as long as either of them could remember.

"Ianto?" Jack asked, frowning. "Are you OK? What's wrong?"

Ianto smoothed his shaking hands down his suit, trying to order his thoughts. "There's something in the Hub," he managed.

Jack's eyes widened. "What? Where? What happened?"

Ianto took a deep breath. "When I went down to feed the weevils, they were all asleep." He tugged nervously on the end of his black tie. "And there was a living skeleton, or something. A weevil skeleton. It started to attack me, but then it vanished."

Jack stood up abruptly, whisking open the top drawer of his desk and swiping his Webley. "Right, then." He tapped his ear-piece. "Tosh, Owen – we've got an intruder in the Hub. Tosh, I need you to run scans, find out where it is and what sort of creature it is. Owen, get all the information you can on weevils and living skeletons." He ignored Owen's startled splutter and carried on talking. "Ianto, with me, we're going to check the cells. Gwen – the storerooms."

Gwen frowned. "Shouldn't I go with you, Jack?" she asked.

Jack swung around to stare at her. "Why?"

"Well..." Gwen gestured helplessly at herself. "I always go with you."

"Not this time," Jack replied, flashing her a chilly smile whilst shepherding Ianto out the office.

-T-

Jack's gaze swept the cells where Ianto had encountered the skeleton. "It was here?"

"Yes. That's the bag I dropped."

"And the weevils were all _asleep_?" Jack frowned.

"Not a sound from any of them." Ianto fidgeted uncomfortably. "I don't know why."

"I don't like the sound of this," Jack admitted. "The other levels are all locked, right?"

"Uh-huh." Ianto nodded. "But I doubt that would be a huge problem if it managed to get into the Hub in the first place."

Just then, their ear-pieces crackled into life and Toshiko's voice sounded in their ears. "Jack? Ianto? I've done a search for life-forms apart from us, and there's nothing. So I did a scan on energy-readings, and – again - nothing. The system says that nothing is in the Hub."

"Have you checked the CCTV?" Jack asked sharply.

"That's what's worrying me," Tosh replied tightly. "According to the cameras, there was nothing there, and nothing wrong with the Weevils."

"But I saw—" Ianto started, but Toshiko cut him off.

"Yes, we know what you think you saw. But what if it was all in your head?"

Ianto snorted. "Tosh, I'm not going crazy." All the same, he couldn't help but look to Jack for reassurance.

Jack swallowed and squeezed his arm. "OK. So what're you saying, Tosh?"

There was a pregnant pause at the other end. When Toshiko spoke, her voice was laden with worry. "I don't know. All I have to go on is what the equipment says, and what Ianto says. I think it might be an idea to get Owen to check you over, Yan, just to make sure."

Ianto's eyes widened. "Tosh, there's nothing wrong with me. I'm fine. The equipment must be playing up."

"If it is, that's a first," she replied quietly. "I'm sorry, Ianto, but all the evidence says—"

"OK, Tosh," Jack interrupted, seeing the distress on Ianto's face. "We'll be right up." He switched off the comm. before she had a chance to respond.

Ianto was stared at his feet as if he'd never seen them before. "Am I going crazy, Jack?" he asked, the lost tone in his voice tugging at Jack's heart-strings.

Jack smiled sadly and drew him into a hug. "Whatever it is, we'll deal with it," he promised. "You're not alone in this."

**Sorry that that was short, but I've put up two chapters of fics already today, and I'm tired and my (sprained) hand really hurts. It seemed as good a place as any to leave it off – bet it's a different twist than which you expected! :P**

**Reviews are loved, huggled, and taken home and read bedtime stories with hot mugs of coco. :D**


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